Tough Mudder creative officer Alex Patterson visited Detroit on Monday to talk about how the military-style event will improve and evolve in the future. Eric Lacy, Mlive Media Group

DETROIT, MI - The chief creative officer for a military-style recreational event called Tough Mudder that's started a craze across the country visited Detroit on Monday and shared with Wayne State University students how it will evolve in the future.

"It's probably the toughest event on the planet," Patterson said. "But
there's a little bit of tongue-in-cheek to that. We know it's not;
there's Death Valley marathons and things like that for those who are
really insane."

This former Harvard graduate and tax lawyer also shared his thoughts on the city of Detroit's potential for a Tough Mudder-style event or similar events that could help shape the city's image and turn it into a weekend warrior-type of destination.

"You could definitely do something," said Patterson, speaking to law students at the Judge Damon A. Keith Center for Civil Rights. "There's definitely a lot of open areas."

Patterson, however, said the Tough Mudder - a 10-12 mile race with 25+ obstacles like mud pits, climbing walls and water-filled ditches with electric shocks - would likely be a challenge to host in Detroit because of the city's lack of flat land.

Tough Mudder, expected to host races at 53 sites worldwide this year, requires mostly hilly land owned by private entitles that are willing to work with event organizers to help construct the race infrastructure and monitor safety.

"Anything that’s public land though can be tricky," said Patterson, when asked of Detroit's Belle Isle - where he went on a 5-mile run Sunday. "What we kind of want is a private land owner who says ‘Yes, I agree to do that. You guys can build here, you can put things there.’

"Once you start getting into public lands and permits - and potential permits being revoked - it’s an issue."

That location could end up being a mainstay on the Tough Mudder schedule because it falls in line with the company's location requirements and its proximity to well-populated metro areas (in Michigan's case Ann Arbor, Lansing and Detroit).

"The speedway is really good," Patterson said.

Patterson eyes tougher obstacles and worldwide expansion opportunities in the future that could enhance the brand to the point its considered an enhanced, more hardcore weekend warrior type of lifestyle.

The company currently is building a 5,000-square foot obstacle innovation laboratory in New Jersey that creates new obstacles for events and tweaks current and old ones.

Patterson mentioned during his Detroit visit a new Tough Mudder obstacle for 2013 that involves participants getting electric shocks while crawling through dark ditch-like areas.

"We've created a whole system of obstacle design now," Patterson said. "We've hired and engineer and a construction expert. This is partly for creating obstacles but also something people can point to as a marketing tool for the company.

"You know James Bond had great things because he has Q and the new technology, so knowing Tough Mudder is continuously innovating, getting a reputation is half of what I've been doing and working on in the past year."

Patterson added that Tough Mudder is constantly looking to find ways to beat the competition including the Warrior Dash and that company's new venture in 2013: a 15.4-mile, 24+ obstacle "Iron Warrrior Dash" to be held in four locations this year.

The Tough Mudder, to date, has raised more than $5 million to the Wounded Warrior Project, assisting injured military veterans, and has a full slate of events in 2013 that span the U.S. Canada, Europe and even Japan.

Watch the two videos below for about Patterson's store and the Tough Mudder and its event philosophy.

Have you done a Tough Mudder? I have! What was your experience like?

Are you thinking about doing a Tough Mudder? Let us know in our comments section.